Yang City possessed a reputation for being the wealthiest under heaven. It resembled Luo City in one respect—both had prospered through commerce. But Yang City’s merchants differed entirely from Luo City’s merchants. Luo merchants were shrewd yet magnanimous, emphasizing substance. Yang merchants were shrewd yet crafty, competing in extravagance.
The contraband Mo Zi dealt in was specifically for supplying those nouveau riches of Yang City—goods whose trade was controlled by official merchants in Great Zhou. Generally speaking, Great Zhou leaned toward the southwest and northwest, while Nande leaned toward the southeast. Geographic differences inevitably led to uneven distribution of resources. For instance, the finest ink and brushes came from Great Zhou’s production, while silk embroidery was most exquisite in Nande. Similarly, Great Zhou was rich in mineral resources, but Nande’s manufactured weapons were more refined.
Mo Zi and Cen Er split up to visit those customers who had already placed orders long ago. That very day, they sold all their goods in one clean sweep, earning a huge pile of banknotes.
Things went smoothly, and since they didn’t need to procure more goods this time, they found themselves surprisingly free the next day.
“Mo-ge, whether the mistress is getting married or not, we could stock up on goods and have my father find buyers, couldn’t we? It’s not easy making this trip—seems wasteful to miss out on earning extra money for no reason.” Early in the morning, the two were eating at the inn where they were staying, and Cen Er crunched on peanuts with relish.
Chou Yu had said he wanted to go out and buy things for the brothers, so he wasn’t with the two of them.
“The mistress’s meaning is that since we’re stopping, we shouldn’t leave any loose ends for people to grab onto. She’s marrying into a prince’s mansion now—the business is small, but reputation is large. Besides, the biggest official merchants are all in the Upper Capital. Why should we continue this contraband trade? Maybe in the future we’ll even become official merchants ourselves.” To keep her male disguise from being exposed, Mo Zi deliberately spoke coarsely and carelessly while eating in the main hall. She wondered whether she should lift a foot onto the bench like the two men at the neighboring table—would that be more masculine?
Hearing this, Cen Er’s eyes lit up. “That’s really true.”
Seeing him take it seriously, Mo Zi thought to herself that Luo people truly had lofty aspirations—whether achievable or not, they thought about it first before speaking. Official merchant—how could that be so easy to become? Moreover, there wasn’t a single female official merchant in all of Great Zhou, despite the founding Empress. The Wu family’s later descendants seemed to deliberately erase Wu Zetian’s achievements, imposing heavy restrictions on princesses and consorts, fearing another one like her would emerge.
“Have you heard? The first corrupt official escaped last night.” The neighbor at the next table with his left foot propped up wasn’t careful about his volume.
Was it that Nande’s common people loved giving others nicknames, or was this title “first corrupt official” so resounding that no one remembered his real name? Mo Zi had no interest when she heard it the first time, remembered it the second time she heard it, and the third time—well, she didn’t mind hearing more.
“How did he escape?” The man with his right foot propped up leaned his ear closer. “You should know, His Majesty dispatched a team of Imperial Guards from the palace to carry out the imperial command. Every one of them was a top expert, specifically to prevent anyone from rescuing him.”
“My third uncle’s godson serves in the yamen. Last night it was his turn for night duty. At the third watch, Imperial Guards came to the official yamen to wake the Prefect. They wanted him to mobilize troops to seal the city gates. Could the Prefect refuse to give the order? Then he brought people to the official relay station and looked—good heavens, more than half the Imperial Guards were dead or wounded, the cage holding the first corrupt official was wide open, not even a hair left behind. The Imperial Commissioner in charge of the escort said a group of masked men had secretly entered the relay station. They discovered them and both sides fought. Originally they might not have lost, but who knew four more masked men with superior martial arts would arrive, and the Imperial Guards couldn’t hold them off. After a chaotic battle, they took the man away.” The man with his left foot propped up grabbed a teapot in his hand, poured it into his mouth, and wiped with his sleeve.
“I wondered why when I came out this morning, there were soldiers everywhere on the streets. If they sealed the city at the third watch, they definitely couldn’t get out.” The right-foot man was quite thoughtful. “If it were me, naturally I couldn’t stay in our Nande. I’d find a way to slip out of the city, cross the river to Great Zhou to hide and live my life, never thinking about coming back.”
“It’s not that easy.” The left-foot man chuckled twice. “Didn’t you see how tightly both armies are guarding the river surface? Waterways are inspected even more thoroughly than land routes. They open and examine every single item in peddlers’ baskets, even women’s rouge and powder, afraid of spies passing messages. How could a living person, moreover a court criminal, hide and get through? Just watch—he’ll be caught and brought back in a few days.”
At this point, some might ask: if the inspections were so tight, how did Mo Zi, carrying contraband, manage to enter the city?
Actually, it was simple. Because Mo Zi’s boat had passed Startled Fish Rapids and came ashore at Steaming Mist Ridge. Steaming Mist Ridge was already within Nande’s borders and could enter Yang City through the east gate. For merchants traveling within the borders, the guards were comparatively lax. Slip them some silver and they basically didn’t inspect at all.
“Of course it’s not easy for him alone, but aren’t there those masked men? Even the Imperial Guards were no match—the other side definitely has significant backing. I guess they’re helpers he hired. Under heavy rewards there will be brave men—maybe he can escape.” The right-foot man sang a contrary tune.
“How about we make a bet…”
There was no need to listen to what followed. Mo Zi took a big bite of her steamed bun and said to Cen Er, who was also listening intently, “This first corrupt official—do you think he can escape?”
But Cen Er seemed lost in thought about something, then suddenly grabbed Mo Zi’s sleeve and tugged hard, lowering his voice to say, “Mo-ge, this is bad, really bad.”
Mo Zi laughed at him. “What, did the first corrupt official also embezzle your money? He’s escaped and you’re this nervous.”
“No. Didn’t you hear? Those two just said that later four more masked men arrived. Four!” Cen Er held up four fingers and nervously repeated, “The ones we brought into the city—weren’t there also four?”
Mo Zi brushed aside Cen Er’s four fingers, looked left and right, confirmed no one was paying attention to their table, and said to him in an extremely low voice while feigning casualness, “Cen Er, you’re overthinking this. By your logic, there are four people at the table behind us, four people at the table by the window, and four people at the table by the stairs—could they all be last night’s masked men?”
“But…” Cen Er still wanted to say that Bai Yu and his companions were really too mysterious.
“Cen Er, you believe whatever others say—it’s just gossip anyway. Since there’s nothing to do today, why don’t you go stroll around and buy some Yang City specialties to take back to your father and brother?” Mo Zi thought to herself that even if Bai Yu and his group were truly related to last night’s robbery case, she was the one who brought them in. If the authorities investigated, wouldn’t that make her an accomplice? Therefore, she absolutely could not acknowledge it—not even verbally.
So Cen Er was forcibly sent off by Mo Zi to buy “local specialties.”
Mo Zi settled the bill. Remembering she had promised to bring things back for Lu Ju and Xiao Yi, she strolled toward the liveliest marketplace. Bai Yu had entered the city yesterday and parted ways with her, so she didn’t know which inn they were staying at. As she browsed and looked around, she thought that if she encountered them on the main street, would that prove that both Cen Er and she were overthinking things? Maybe they had “smuggled” across just to buy embroidery—wasn’t that possible?
Mo Zi’s ability to console herself had been refined to perfection through training under her master Qiu Sanniang. Having thought it through, she cast her worries to the back of her mind and wholeheartedly began looking at gifts for the maid sisters.
“Isn’t this Mo-ge?”
Mo Zi turned around and saw a familiar face standing at the shop entrance, smiling like Maitreya Buddha. Above him, the shop sign displayed three large characters—
Pearl and Jade Records.